Great books for people who study people
American Families — a deep dive A central theme in this book is “the economy of dignity” whereby people earn peer respect by showing they know about things that matter within a subculture. This is especially true for younger people who are in the process of defining their identity. For example, school aged kids earn […]
Found in Translation
Very shortly after September 11th, 2001 I had the option to go to Tel Aviv, or to get up in the middle of the night and listen by phone to the focus groups being conducted there. I opted to listen by phone given the jittery airport scenes I was seeing. They placed the old school […]
Ethnography is Up!
This movie, “Kitchen Stories” is based on a true story about a large-scale ethnography conducted in the 1940’s in Sweden. It illustrates with adorable humor what happens when ethnography is used in the wrong way, even if for the right reason. And it’s about humans. You can rent it on Amazon for less than the […]